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So im not really sure where to post this question but its been one ive had some different answers to. Your copyright or rights resevered statement on a product you have sold, do you forfeit that copyright of that specific product upon sale ? I mean lets take a book for example if you buy it its still protected, you cant reporduce or sell it as your own ect ect. But what about a website design ?

So I'm not really sure where to post this question, but it's been one I've had some different answers to.

Your copyright or rights reserved statement on a product you have sold: do you forfeit that copyright of that specific product upon sale?

I mean let's take a book for example… if you buy it it's still protected; you can't reproduce or sell it as your own, etc etc.

But what about a website design ?

Sounds like you're unclear on the different categories of Intellectual Property.

With Intellectual Property — something original that you create from your own thinking and experience, etc — you can't really protect an idea or concept. You can only protect the practical, PHYSICAL end-product of that idea/concept.

Intellectual Property includes:

Patents — A formula, process or similar rendering of an original idea.

So, coming back to your original question, which relates to copyright:

The first person to publish a physical version of an original creative work — written (article, book, memoir, advertisement, etc), music, image (painting/drawing/photograph etc) — is recognised in law as the copyright holder or owner… as long as they can prove their claim. This is why a copyright statement — including the date of first publication and asserting the right to control publication — is so important to include with that original publication.

It is not necessary to register copyright: the law and international copyright conventions recognise copyright as implicit, provided proof can be established to support your claim.

When it comes to the provision of services like web design, commercial copywriting, ghost writing, illustration, photography, videography, etc, copyright can be a problem area of the law, so it's really important to establish who owns the copyright, in writing, BEFORE the work is created, and if you plan to retain copyright, this MUST be stated clearly in the invoice/s related to creation of the work, otherwise the law and courts will normally assume that copyright ownership passes to the client upon payment in full of the invoice/s.

You may find that very few clients commissioning a copyrightable work will be willing to accept such an arrangement.

If you fail to establish your intention to retain copyright of the work and, instead, only license its use for a specified publication/production by the client, you can expect no sympathy from courts if you decide to take legal action AFTER the event.

Local laws may vary, but this is a very widespread practice.

Hope this helps!

PS: Don't confuse the work copyright with the word copywrite (the writing of copy or content which may be subject to copyright).